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You are here: Home / Archives for turtle pictures

Beautiful (and Smug) Turtles at Woodlands Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes

May 31, 2016 by Joi Sigers Leave a Comment

Alligator Snapping Turtle Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes
Handsome Alligator Snapping Turtle at the Nature Station
It was a WILD Memorial Day Weekend at the Nature Station in the LBL. Naturally, we went and naturally it was a blast.

While I have a pretty healthy knowledge of birds and most animals, I am positively sitting on empty when it comes to knowledge of any kind when it comes to reptiles.  While some creepy crawlies make my hair stand on end, I do like turtles. They’re cute and I appreciate the way they kind of keep to themselves. They don’t go looking for trouble and I like that attitude.

When I hear they’d be having a “hands on” demonstration with turtles Sunday, I set myself up with a front row position. I figured it’d be a great time to go from “empty” on knowledge to at least 1/4 a tank.  Not only were the Nature Station workers a wealth of information, they inspired me to come home and research turtles to learn even more.
That’s one of the most beautiful things about places like the Nature Station, Elk & Bison Prairie, and The Homeplace – each place is an education, disguised as entertainment for all ages.

Alligator Snapping Turtle Nature Station in the Land Between the Lakes
Add this to the top 3 places I never want my fingers to be!

Alligator Snapping Turtle

The alligator snapping turtle (pictured at the top and above) is one of the heaviest freshwater turtles in the world and, let’s be honest, he’s quite a looker. This turtle is often linked to the common snapping turtle, but they really aren’t that closely related. You do not… not, not, not.. want to handle an alligator snapping turtle. Leave it to the professionals or you will be sorry. They’re bite is outrageous and you never want to find that out “first hand.”

The alligator snapping turtle is found primarily in the southeastern United States, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Indiana, and Missouri.

The Nature Station also has common snapping turtles which aren’t quite as large as the guy pictured above. Still not an animal you want to touch, mind you.

Turtles at Woodlands Nature Station (Land Between the Lakes)

Turtles at Woodlands Nature Station

The beauties (pictured above and below) are probably my favorite turtles at Woodlands Nature Station. I love these pictures – the fact that they’re looking at the camera, the fact that you can see their reflection in the pond… but most of all I love their smugness. They’re looking at me like, “WHAT?!?!”

That adorable smugness is going to earn them a spot in the slider rotation of pictures on the front of Genuine Kentucky, I guarantee it.

Turtles at Woodlands Nature Station (Land Between the Lakes)

Beautiful Smug Turtles Enjoying the Sun!

If we’re being honest, why wouldn’t the turtles be smug? The animals at Woodlands Nature Station don’t just have it good, they have it dang good. The staff treats them as well as most of us treat our pets and the respect they show to them (and demand from others on their behalf) blows me away each time.  On this particular trip, the man and young lady who were handling the turtles handled them as you’d expect someone to handle a newborn.

In fact, whenever they’d return the turtles to the water, they did so with such care that hardly a ripple was made in the water. As an animal lover, I respect the heck out of that.

Whether you have children, grandchildren, or simply love animals, yourself, be sure to check out the following information about seasonally recurring events at Woodlands Nature Station:

  • Afternoon Animal Encounters
  • Totally Turtles! (Mondays)
  • Dinnertime for the Bald Eagle (Tuesdays)
  • For Goodness Snakes (Wednesdays – this is one place you will never see me… can you say fatally phobic female six times fast?)
  • Mystery Animal Encounters (Thursdays)
  • Feed the Animals Fridays

Beautiful Turtle at Woodlands Nature Station

SMUG!!!

Filed Under: Kentucky Picture of the Day, Kentucky Wildlife, LBL, The Nature Station Tagged With: alligator snapping turtle picture, Nature Station, Nature Station Pictures, turtle pictures, turtles

Picture of the Day: BIG Turtle at Jack C. Fisher Park

June 18, 2013 by Joi Sigers Leave a Comment

Brittany's Turtle, Jack C. Fisher Park (Owensboro)

Turtle at Jack C. Fisher Park

These pictures are of a large turtle my daughter Brittany befriended on a walk at Jack C. Fisher Park a few days ago. Unlike a lot of girls, Britt is obsessed with lizards and turtles. When she saw it, her hands went straight up in the air and she half-screamed “TURTLE!!!!!”  Another daughter (Emily) wasn’t entirely sure what she’d said, but she automatically grabbed her phone to take a picture of whatever it was.

Several people have looked at the pictures and told us this was a snapping turtle, but I couldn’t say for certain. I have less than zero knowledge about turtles.

After I convinced Britt that bringing the cute turtle home was a bad idea (somehow I was able to convince her it had babies it needed to stay with them), we left  it in its beautiful home and headed on our way.  We did, however, hear from Brittany all day about her being “Soooooooo Cute.”  Britt’s also the one who took these pictures.

As the biggest animal lover in the world, I want to remind everyone of a few things when it comes to admiring and/or photographing birds, wildlife, butterflies, and “soooo cute” turtles in the wild:

  • For safety sake (your’s and the animal’s), never get too close. No picture is worth a trip to the ER.
  • Always keep an eye on your kids around animals. With the insanely entertaining and popular shows on television showing human and animal interactions, they’re apt to start “acting out” what they see their heroes do each week. Bad deal.
  • Never remove a wild animal from its home (unless you’re a professional or the “Turtle Man,” himself!). The animal could very well have young depending upon it. Besides, would you want to be uprooted from your home for no good reason?!
  • Don’t cause undue anxiety for the animal and, whatever you do, don’t scare it.  We took the pictures shown here in about 30 seconds so the turtle could get back to enjoying the beautiful day. Naturally, we could have sat down and taken a zillion pictures of it, poked a stick at it, etc – but we’re frankly too cool for that. Animals have feelings and emotions like we do. NO PICTURE OR VIDEO IS WORTH CRUELLY UPSETTING OR SCARING AN INNOCENT AND HELPLESS ANIMAL.  As you can tell from the pictures, we took only a few pictures, while keeping a distance, and then called it a day.

Jack C. Fisher Park in Owensboro, KY

  • Learn More About Jack C. Fisher Park, Owensboro
  • See More Pictures of Jack C. Fisher Park

Brittany's Turtle, Jack C. Fisher Park (Owensboro)

Turtle at Jack C. Fisher Park

Filed Under: Jack C. Fisher Park, Kentucky Picture of the Day, Kentucky Wildlife, Owensboro Tagged With: Jack C. Fisher Park Owensboro, turtle pictures, turtles

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